Message from the DGS President

Dear Fellow Members and Friends of the Digital Government Society::

On behalf of the Digital Government Society, I would like to express my gratitude for your membership and continued involvement in the Society’s evolving activities over the years. The Society has evolved from a sponsored research community to a regional research association to a global entity over more than a decade and a half. It took the dedication and devotion of early visionaries, digital government leaders and most of all, of you, the Society members and supporters. We are extremely happy and proud that this June 2016, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Digital Government Society, at this 17th Annual Digital Government Conference in Shanghai, China, generously hosted by Fudan University.

The Society has thrived with your continued support over the last decade, reaching many important milestones. It has been firmly established by now as a leading global research society in the digital government domain, drawing members from around the world. It has taken many Society leaders’ dedicated service to reach the point where the Society stands today. I would like to acknowledge all of them for their collective contributions. I especially would like to acknowledge the past Society board members under the leadership of our past president, Dr. Theresa Pardo. Dr. Pardo and her team have introduced a model for establishing the business processes to manage the Society more efficiently as a mature organization, have contributed to forming partnerships with other public administration communities, and have taken the initiative for the internationalization of the Society. This year’s flagship Digital Government Conference in Shanghai, China is a result of these tireless efforts.

I had the great pleasure of working with the past Board and officials, serving as President Elect and as the chair of the Communication Committee for the past years. I have learned a great deal about the challenging tasks that we face as a Society. Our challenges include ensuring the steady Society membership growth, the successful organization of the annual Digital Government Conference with high quality papers, and the effective two-way communication with the Society members. Soliciting sponsorships from different organizations, as well as creating the educational and training opportunities for the next generation of digital government students, practitioners and researchers are also the important tasks.

We will continue the shared vision of the previous team for achieving global reach and forging partnerships with other digital government organizations. In addition, I would like to share my vision to make the Society a center for sharing of digital government knowledge and resources that our community as a whole generates with creativity and hard work. As a first step, the Society Board and officials will reach out to every one of you, members and associated organizations, to identify critical values, essential requirements and expected services that the Society should create. This shared knowledge will entail your involvement and devotion to improving not only the Society but also the digital government community at large.

We always welcome your ideas and contributions to activities to realize our vision, i.e., advancing and exchanging knowledge through research, practice and education, and using innovative technologies to improve digital government, digital citizenry and the increasingly digital society that we live in.